AVTECH AVN304 HD IP Camera Review

The AVN304 is the latest model of IP camera from AVTECH , This new generation of IP camera boasts many new and hi-tech features unseen before on an IP Camera.

Just some of the features we will be talking about are:

Multiple Video streaming H.264, MJPEG, MPEG4

1.3MP HD video/images at 720p real time

Live MOS sensor.

Face detection & Tracking

Digital PTZ

Digital Smart Zoom

Setup:
Setting up the camera was straight forward with the supplied CMS VideoViewer software and the user manual. The AVN304 has an Ethernet connection which plugs directly into your computer for initial setup but then afterwards can be plugged straight into your router, hub or even powerline/homeplug connection which is how I have been testing it. The wizard guides you through the options such as:

Setting the resolution,
Codec selection,
IP address selection
DDNS service
Trigger level
FTP, Email and SMS alerts
Plus many more.

You can also setup all the options using your web browser if you prefer not to use the CSM VideoViewer software.


Although this is a stand alone camera which once setup can be left to run without any need for a computer as you can use FTP, E-mail and SMS alerts to monitor images. You can use the supplied CSM VideoViewer software either on the same LAN or anywhere in the world where you have internet access and use the CSM VideoViewer software on your computer to record live video and various resolutions.

The resolution selection caters for all computer/mobile and bandwidth options from QVGA all the way up to H.264 720P live video.

The supplied CSM VideoViewer software allows you to monitor up to 16 cameras simultaneously, With options to record when there is motion, or motion in a selected area only or continuous record or even set the CSM VideoViewer on timer mode where you can say for example record your living room from the hours of 10:00pm-7:00AM when you are asleep.


Mount:
The AVN304 comes with a standard 1/4" - 20UNC screw thread and mount/stand so you can mount it to your liking be it ceiling, wall or desktop mounted.


Lens:
Once the AVN304 has been mounted you can manually adjust the lens by rotating it to suit the current environment, another feature which is not common on IP cameras even on more expensive models from other manufacturers.


User access:

This is the supplied CSM VideoViewer software


As mentioned above you can access the AVN304 using various options which are:

Multiple browser types: Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox and Google Chrome and Opera

CSM VideoViewer software (supplied with camera)

EagleEyes mobile software which supports: iPad, iPod, iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Symbian & Android.

You can set different types of account access to the camera where you can have an account for someone to just view, view and use PTZ options or full admin access, the levels of use are:

Guest
Normal
Power User
Supervisor

All accounts have life time options, for E.G you may want to give someone access to the camera to view for a set time say 1 hour, you can then make them a guest level account with a life time level of 1 hour.


Low light/ Night use:

The AVN304 features a super White LED which you can turn on manually from your browser, CSM VideoViewer or EagleEyes or even set it on timer mode to come on at set times when it is dark, I have found this to give much clearer image quality than using IR LED at short distances of say 5 meters.

The AVN304 also includes a built in microphone for audio monitoring and recording.


Digital Smart Zoom:

One of the features the AVN304 boasts is Digital Smart Zoom, the camera will detect movement and zoom in digitally and automatically into the object/person, you can set the trigger level sensitivity to suit the current area the camera is facing, for e.g. you could set it to a lower level of sensitivity so that it will ignore minor movements from animals/trees blowing etc.


Face Detection & Tracking:

Another great feature is the ability to detect human faces and track called Face Detection & Tracking, As soon as the AVN304 detects a human face it will automatically start to zoom into the face for clear identification using its 1.3MP sensor and track the movements of the person. I found it to work best at a maximum range of 3 meters but I supose it all depends on camera angle and lighting conditions etc.


Recording:

Using the supplied CSM VideoViewer software I was able to control all the features on the AVN304, with an easy to navigate menu system, you could install the CSM on your laptop and have a 720p H.264 stream when you are at home on your LAN and when you go away to work/holiday where you may have a slower internet connection you could easily with a few click set the stream and a more suitable resolution to cope with the bandwidth like MJPEG at VGA resolution which would still give a pretty good quality image.




Alerts:

I have also tested the FTP and Mail upload features, upon trigger of movement in a defined area 5 second video clips were e-mailed instantly to my e-mail account and also onto my FTP server, the files were all 5 seconds long and a maximum file size of 500KB.

The AVN304 also supports SMS notifications through the clickatell service where they will send you an SMS when motion is detected; this service in the UK costs around £0.03p per SMS.


Conclusion:

I found the AVn304 very easy to setup with little knowledge needed about it, one problem people might come across is setting up port numbers on your router to allow access to certain ports, websites such as www.portforward.com have step by step instructions for individual routers to setup port forwading.

I found the 720P h.264 smooth and clear but when using it over low bandwidth connection it would slightly deteriorate in quality, this can be overcome by setting a lower resolution.

Features I would like to see of future models:

Uploading of still jpeg images
Uploading of alert videos in mpeg format so you could view them on a mobile device
Optical zoom alongside Digital Smart Zoom
Outdoor model or outdoor cover for the AVN304

Some possible features that AVTECH are working on are:

PIR / two way audio / iPAD HD EagleEyes / MAC 16CH C.M.S/ Push Notify& Msg / 2MEGA / AVTECH DDNS / UPnP(Port Mapping)